Heard Island and Macdonald Islands.
Heard Island, located in the southern Indian Ocean, is 4,100 km southwest of mainland Australia, 1,500 km north of the Antarctic continent and 40 km from Macdonald Island, which is located west of Heard Island. In 1953, the two islands were considered part of Australia's extended territory. It was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1997.
The two islands are formed by the accumulation of limestone and volcanic eruptions. The topography of Heard Island is dominated by mountains, but also small islands, reefs, and capes. 80% of the island is frozen. The climate of Heard Island is cold and oceanic, with strong westerly winds. The two islands are beautifully landscaped and unspoiled areas that demonstrate the evolution of biology and geography.
In the mid-17th century, the American John Hurd and the Englishman William, Macdonald discovered The Island of He and the Island of Wheat, respectively. Heard Island covers an area of 390 square kilometers, and an active volcano on the island called Big Ben covers an area of 380 square kilometers, with a height of 2745 meters and a crater depth of 70 meters. There are no long-term residents, and Australian expeditions sometimes go to the island. Heard Island was discovered in 1833 AD by Peter Kemp, a seal catcher from England, but eventually Captain John Hurd was identified as the discoverer of Heard Island in 1853. During the 1855-1880 seal harvest, fishing vessels from around the world made a year or more of stays here. Between 1874 and 1947, some short stays on the island for scientific expeditions were held for one or two days. In November 1947, Australia established a scientific research station on Heard Island (ceased work in March 1955). In 1947, Britain relinquished sovereignty over the island, which became an Australian overseas territory. Prior to the closure of the island, australian authorities organized numerous scientific expeditions, several private expeditions to the island in the mid-1970s, and the official opening of yachts to the island in 1985. In February 1996, a management plan was drawn up for the two islands, which allowed no one to enter the island without permission to avoid damage to nature and the environment.
Heard Island is the only island close to Antarctica that is volcanically active and allows observation of evolving geomorphological processes and glacial dynamics. Heard Island has one of the fewest island ecosystems on Earth to be in a pristine state. Because it is not affected by different species of plants and animals, as well as humans, on it
Aerial view of Heard Island
Heard Island
Kerguelen Islands.
A group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean. Between latitude 48°30′-49°30′ south and longitude 68°42′-70°35′ E, it is composed of the main island of Kyrgylang and more than 300 small islands. The total land area is 6,129 km² (main island area is 5,732 km²). There are many plateaus and mountains, formed by volcanic eruptive rocks. Mount Ross in the main island, the highest peak is 1,960 meters above sea level. The mountainous surface is mostly covered by glaciers. Offshore lowlands are limeanal and have steep fjords along the coast. The climate is humid, cold and stormy. The average annual temperature is about 4°C. Permafrost with vegetation, with Kelgail Lang cabbage. Animals include penguins, seals, and whales. Minerals include lignite. In 1772 the Frenchman Cergueiran arrived and became a French fiefdom. In 1950, a permanent base and scientific research center were established in the Port of France on the main island.
Croze Islands .
It is a group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean and is part of the French Antarctic Territory. Latitude 46°S, longitude 50°-52°E. Located in the west of the Kelgalang Islands, it mainly consists of 5 parts. From northwest to southeast: apótres, Aux Cochons, Pingouins, La Possession and I'Est. It has an area of 500 square kilometers. Discovered in 1772. The largest island is Persia, with an area of about 150 square kilometers. Steep peaks, up to 1,500 meters high. There are glaciers in the mountains. The climate is harsh and cold, consisting of 20 islands. There are powerful storms. Flora and fauna belong to the Antarctic fauna. There are only a dozen scientists living on the island. There is a meteorological station and a geographical research institute on the French Croze Islands to conduct marine microbiological research and atomic energy research, and a nuclear test monitoring station has been set up on the islands.
Croze Islands
Top view of croze islands
Amsterdam Island
Aerial view of Amsterdam Island
Prince Edward Islands
The Prince Edward Islands are located at 037°51′09" E and 46°46′23ft N. Belongs to South Africa. Located in the Indian Ocean, near Antarctica. It consists of two small islands, Marion Island and Prince Edward Island.
Prince Edward Island covers an area of about 45 square kilometres and Marion Island is about 290 square kilometres, both of which were formed as a result of volcanic activity. Prince Edward Island was discovered by a Dutch ship in 1663 and incorporated into South Africa in 1947. Due to the islands' remoteness from land, the island is now uninhabited and a virgin land.
In 1960, the South African government began scientific expeditions to the organisms of the two islands as sites for research, regulation and conservation of genetic resources. Prince Edward Island is a globally important biodiversity hotspot and home to a variety of marine life such as albatrosses, penguins and killer whales. In 2009, South Africa announced the establishment of South Africa's first offshore marine protected area in the Prince Edward Islands, which will become one of the largest marine protected areas in the world. The entire protected area consists of a no-fishing zone, a restricted zone and a controlled zone. Any form of fishing activity is strictly prohibited in the no-fishing zone, and 3 of the 4 restricted areas allow limited fishing for scientific purposes.
On Marion Island, there is the Marion Island station where South Africa is stationed. Marion Island Station is one of many Antarctic scientific expeditions.
Aerial view of the Prince Edward Islands
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
Part of the British Antarctic Territory. South Georgia covers an area of about 3,592 square kilometres, while the South Sandwich Islands are about 750 kilometres southeast of South Georgia and cover an area of about 311 square kilometres. Between latitudes 56°18′-59°30′ S and longitudes 26°-28°30′ W. It is about 2,000 km from the nearest part of the Antarctic continent. The South Sandwich Islands are a group of small active volcanic islands consisting of 7 main islands and a number of other small islands, with a total land area of about 310 square kilometres (120 sq mi). The island is mountainous and covered in snow and ice.
The 390-kilometer arc of 11 islands is extraordinary: 3 million years ago, volcanic eruptions cast the islands, and the young islands sit on the fastest-moving plates of the Earth's crust (7 centimeters per year), making the geological formations active and elusive, with lava flowing all year round, sometimes falling into the cold sea, steaming up a fog that does not know whether it is hot or cold. A volcanic eruption in 2005 also added 40 hectares of land to it.
In 1775, Captain James Cook discovered the islands while searching for the fabled southern continent, and in the face of "thick fog, blizzards, cold, and everything that could put a voyage in danger," Captain Cook did not hesitate to leave the South Sandwich Islands behind. During Captain Cook's voyage to the Southern Ocean, he was tasked with finding the magical southern continent and declaring it British owned. But the sea was far away, and Captain Cook only found a series of islands. Cook arrived on South Georgia in January 1775, hoping at first that South Georgia would prove to be "part of the Magical Continent", but later discovered that this was not the case; sensing that "the island was not worth exploring", he continued to step up his voyage. He wrote in his records: "The cold, cold and desolate that nature has given to this region is far beyond imagination. ”
On the last day of January 1775, the fog in front of the ship cleared and land appeared! Cook writes: "Convinced that there would be a land near the pole that would serve as the foundation of the icebergs that covered the vast Southern Ocean, I came to the conclusion that the land we saw, which I later called 'Sandwich Continent,' was a group of islands, or a tip of the Magical Continent." As it turns out, it's just a bunch of islands, which is where the South Sandwich Islands got their name, and the English transliteration of "sandwich" is "Sandwich."
Admittedly, the South Sandwich Islands are so off-the-beaten-path that even Captain Cook, who dared to explore, gave up, but it's not a place where birds don't lay eggs, and it's even a paradise for animals. The most numerous and diverse are penguins: 3 million tattooed penguins, more than 52,000 pairs of long-browed penguins, 50,000 pairs of Adélie penguins and thousands of white-browed penguins. Add to that the flying seabirds: the Giant Stork, which alone has 1,500 pairs on tiny Candelmus Island; 100,000 pairs of the Silver Grey Storm Grebe; as well as the Spotted Stork, Snow Petrels, Storm Petrels, Cormorants, Skuas, Seagulls and Terns. In addition, pinnipeds include fur seals (there are about 500 cubs on Zavodowski Island), leopard seals, Antarctic elephant seals, crab-eating seals and Weddell's seals – all nourished by a krill-based food chain in the Southern Ocean.
Discovered in 1775 by the British explorer Captain James Cork. The original was uninhabited. In 1819, the Russian Belins Gaojin and others came here. Relations between Britain and Argentina deteriorated sharply after 50 Argentines landed on South Georgia on 19 March 1982 and raised the Argentine flag in 19 March 1982, despite British opposition. On April 2 of the same year, Argentine President Galtieri ordered the capture of the Falkland Islands, triggering the Falkland War, but it ended in a British victory. In the past, they were originally part of the Falkland Islands, but were not established as independent British overseas territories until 1985.
Bouvet Island
Aerial view of Bouvet Island
New Zealand's Sub-Antarctic Islands
New Zealand's sub-Antarctic archipelago consists of five groups of archipelagos. These archipelagos are located off the southeast coast of New Zealand's South Island. With the exception of a weather station on Campbell Island with scientific researchers, no one has settled on the other islands. These islands have been added to the World Heritage Site and are collectively known as the Sub-Antarctic Archipelago.
It has an area of 764.58 km²
New Zealand's sub-Antarctic archipelago mainly consists of the following parts:
The Antipodes Islands include Antipodes Island, Bollans Island, the Windward Islands, Orde Lees Island, Leeward Island, South Islet, and a number of other small islands
The Auckland Islands include Auckland Island, Adams Island, Enderby Island, Disappointment Island, Rose Island and a number of other smaller islands
The Bounty Islands, which include the Eastern Group and the Western Group, as well as a number of other small islands
Campbell Island, which includes Campbell Island and the rocky reefs that surround Campbell Island, including Jacquemart Island, New Zealand's southernmost point
The Snares includes Northeast Island, High Island, Broughton Island, Alert Stack, and a number of other small islands
These archipelagos are located between the Antarctic continent and the subtropics, and the summer temperature is generally between 12° and 5.5°. They are significantly affected by the westerly wind belt, where there are very cool temperatures. The northernmost Snells Islands has an average annual temperature of 11° and the southernmost Campbell Island has an average annual temperature of 6°. Rainfall is high on most islands, around 1200 mm to 1500 mm a year. And it's often cloudy. There is an ascending current in the waters west of the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island.
With the exception of the Bundy Islands, which have no higher plants, the other islands have considerable plant diversity, the highest in the sub-Antarctic region. The plants of the Snells Islands, the Antipoldez Islands and the two islands of the Auckland Islands (Adams Island and Disappointment Island) have never been affected by humans or exotic animals. There are about 250 species of land plants, of which 35 are endemic to the region. The Auckland Islands are home to 233 species of vascular plants, of which 196 are local and 6 are endemic. The Auckland Archipelago is home to the southernmost forest in the region, with the main features of the Metrosideros umbellata tree and some flowering myrtles. It is here that the Tree ferns reach the southernmost tip of its distribution. The Snells Islands are also covered with extensive forests, with only a few bushes on Campbell Island and the Antipodes Islands. Marine plants are not as diverse as on land, but a new bull algae (Durvillaea) has recently been discovered in the Antipodes Archipelago. The marine ecosystem of the sub-Antarctic archipelago is extremely diverse, with a considerable number of seabirds and marine mammals. Of the 120 bird species recorded, 40 were seabirds. Five of these species are endemic to the region, including the Southern Royal Albatross (Diomedea epomophora), the D. Exulans albatross, the Antipodensis, the Campbell Albatross (Diomedea melanophrys impavida) and the White-crowned Albatross (D. cauta steadi). 10 of the world's 24 species of albatrosses breed here. There are also 4 species of penguins that breed there, of which the Eudyptes robustus and the E. sclateri are endemic to the region. Endemic phenomena of terrestrial birds are also high, including the brown water duck (Anas aucklandica) and a subspecies of the Campbell Island water duck (a. nesiotis). Other endemic terrestrial birds include the Auckland buzzard (Lewinia muelleri), the Cyanoramphus unicolor, the Coenocorypha aucklandica, and the Petroica macrocephala. The Oakland sand duck (Mergus australis) is thought to be extinct, and it was last seen in 1902. These archipelagos are home to the Phocarctos hookeri, where an estimated 12,000-14,000 sea lions are breeding, 95% of which are in the Auckland Islands. Southern ridge whales (Eubalaena australis) breed in the waters off Campbell Island and the Oakland Islands. In the streams of the Auckland Islands and Campbell Islands live a freshwater fish, galaxias brevipinnis. Invertebrates are also highly endemic, including 36 species of Lepidoptera and a unique genus of sand ants (Orthoptera). Marine invertebrates are not very endemic, but there are endemic species such as the Auckland spider crab (Jacquinotia edwardsii).
These archipelagos are located on the continental shelf off the southeast sea of New Zealand. The Snells and Bounty Islands are made up of granite and metamorphic rocks, while the three groups of archipelagos to the south were formed by volcanic rocks between 25 million and 1 million years ago. Most of the island's soil has layers of peat up to 8 meters thick, but the Bounty Islands have only exposed rock. Campbell Island and the Oakland Islands have significant iceberg remnants and are filled with deep-water harbors. The Bounty Islands are a small group of rocky islands with little place to moor safely.
Map of the distribution of the sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand.
Auckland Islands